1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reporting system, a reporting control method and a handheld device, and particularly to a reporting system, a reporting control method and a handheld device for automatic reporting at the occurrence of a vehicle accident.
2. Description of Related Art
According to the related art, a system is proposed in which if a vehicle receives an impact of an accident with an onboard device detecting the occurrence thereof, the onboard device causes a mobile phone to dial a specific reporting number, thus enabling automatic reporting at the occurrence of an accident (see, for example, JP-A-2001-250183). Specifically, as a user carrying a mobile phone gets into the vehicle, the mobile phone and the onboard device carry out linking processing based on Bluetooth (trademark registered), hold a linked state and stand by. Then, if the onboard device detects the occurrence of an accident, the onboard device transmits information about the accident to the mobile phone. The mobile phone dials a specific reporting number and reports the occurrence of the accident to an accident information center.
Also, a technique is proposed in which a mobile phone with having a shock sensor automatically reports positional information or the like to an emergency contact number upon detecting an impact of a vehicle accident or the like in a predetermined level or higher (see, for example, WO2006/085380).
Moreover, according to the related art, a technique is proposed in which a vehicle key FOB calculates the strength of magnetic fields generated by radio waves from antennas on the side of the driver's seat as well as the side of the front passenger seat in the vehicle so that the vehicle is notified of the result of the calculation to determine the position of the key FOB based on the difference in the strength of the magnetic fields (see, for example, JP-A-2011-144624).
However, in the case where the mobile phone detects an impact as in the technique disclosed in WO2006/085380, it may be difficult to discriminate whether the impact is due to a vehicle accident or due to other causes than an accident, such as falling of the mobile phone itself. Therefore, there is a risk such that automatic reporting is carries out mistakenly despite the absence of an accident.